[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 177 (Monday, December 15, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    H.R. 3490--GPO ``BUY OUT'' BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 15, 2003

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to the 
House's attention H.R. 3490, a bill introduced by the distinguished 
chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing and the House 
Administration Committee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney), and me to 
repeal a requirement that the Government Printing Office make certain 
payments to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund in 
connection with voluntary separation incentive programs, or ``buy-
outs.''
  In a buy-out, an agency seeking to trim its workforce offers 
employees cash incentives to leave the rolls voluntarily, saving the 
agency and the taxpayers money. In 1998, Congress authorized buy-outs 
at GPO for 3 years, later extended through fiscal 2004. The new Public 
Printer, Bruce James, has used this authority for the first time this 
year. To defray the GPO program's cost, Congress provided $10 million 
in the fiscal 2004 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act.
  Similar to buy-out provisions applicable throughout the executive 
branch at the time, the GPO-specific buy-out legislation requires the 
agency to pay 15 percent of the value of the salaries of those 
participating in the buy-out to the Office of Personnel Management, to 
be credited to the civil-service retirement fund. The 15 percent 
requirement necessarily raised the cost of buy-outs to agencies and 
discouraged their use. Last year, in the act establishing the 
Department of Homeland Security, Congress repealed the 15 percent 
requirement for the entire executive branch, leaving the Government 
Printing Office unaffected. A similar requirement on the General 
Accounting Office will expire next month.
  Mr. Chairman, the Public Printer asked the Committee on House 
Administration for the provision that became H.R. 3490, and I believe 
the House should enact it. I know of no reason that, having repealed 
the 15 percent requirement for the executive branch, Congress should 
not repeal it for GPO as well. The Public Printer expects to save $21 
million annually from buying-out 312 employees under the law as it now 
stands, a sizeable sum. By relieving GPO of the 15 percent requirement, 
the Public Printer could offer approximately 100 additional buy-outs, 
saving up to $7 million more, for a total of $28 million a year.
  I want to thank the Public Printer, Bruce James, for bringing this 
matter to the committee's attention so promptly and thereby providing 
us the opportunity to realize these additional savings. It has been a 
pleasure to work with him and especially with his Director of 
Congressional Relations, Andy Sherman, to bring this proposal forward 
before the end of this session of the 108th Congress. While I am 
disappointed that we were unable to enact this bill before adjourning, 
I am hopeful we can do so shortly after the second session of the 108th 
Congress convenes.

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